Veronika Kudermetova (Russia) qualified for the second round of the WTA 500 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart with prize money of 922,573 USD. The Russian tennis player, who is WTA No 19, eliminated the 2021 Roland-Garros champion Barbora Krejcikova (Czech Republic) by 2-1 (5:7, 6:4, 6:4) in 3:08 hours of play.
Veronika Kudermetova took a lead in the first set after an early break, but her Czech opponent equalized to 3:3. The Russian player took another break and served for the set at 5:4, but Barbora Krejcikova saved two setpoints and equalized. The Czech tennis player broke again and closed the set by 7:5.
The second set was running equal with both players winning their serve games. Veronika Kudermetova was the first to save a breakpoint in the 6th game and then needed to save three more breakpoints in the eighth game. However, she did not surrender and broke her opponent in the 9th game to close the set at 6:4.
The third set started terribly for the Russian tennis player, as her opponent took a lead by 3:0 after an early break. Veronika Kudermetova returned the break in the 7th game and also broke again in the 9th game to take a lead by 5:4 and served for the match, scoring her first matchpoint.
In the next round, Veronika Kudermetova will face the fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina (Kazakhstan).
